196 REPORT — 1861. 



Oil the Relations of the Population in Irelaml, as shown hy the Statistics of 

 Relir/ious Belief. Bi/ the Rev. A. Hume, LL.D., D.C.L. 



This paper was in contiuuatiou of au analj'sis whicli the writer had made of part 

 of the Ecclesiastical Census of Ireland for 1834 It referred to the two counties of 

 Down and Antrim ; and the results were published, with curious ethnological maps 

 in illustration of them. Of 135 benefices, some one class of the people rose to more 

 than 50 per cent, in 117 instances ; viz., Presbyterians in 70, Roman Catholics in 

 S6, and Established Church in 11. 



Looking only to the geographical counties (except in the cases of Dublin, Bel- 

 fast, iind Carrickfergus), and omitting decimals, every 100 people are divided as 

 follows : — Roman Catholics (or Celts) 78, Churchmen (or Normans and English 

 Saxons) 12, Presbyterians (or Scottish Saxons) 9, minor sects of Protestants 

 (mixed) 1, 



The Presbyterians are most contentivited, 94 per cent, of their number being in 

 Ulster, 3 in Leinster, 2 in Munster, and 1 in Connaught ; indeed, 60 per cent, 

 are situated in Down and Antrim, including Belfast; and if we add London- 

 derry and Tyrone, 81 per cent., or more than four-fifths, are in those four 

 shires. The Established Church has 58 per cent, of its members in Ulster, 

 25 in Leinster, 11 in Munster, and G in Connaught. It is therefore better 

 distributed. The Roman Catholics are best distributed ; viz., Munster, 31 ; 

 Leinster, 28 ; Ulster, 22 ; and Connaught, 19. The great towns, being recruited 

 from the rural population round them, will in time become more Celtic or Roman 

 Catholic, just as Belfcist, which was originally English, has become Scotticised by 

 the influx of neighbouring Presbyterians. 



The three classes of population attain their highest and lowest relative propor- 

 tions at diiferent points of the country ; and in general the explanation of the facts 

 is simple. The Roman Catholics reach 97'71 in Clare, and shade off in Mayo, 

 Keny, Roscommon, Galway, &c., not falling below 90 per cent, in sixteen counties. 

 The Established Chiuvh is highest in Fermanagh, where it rises to 39 per cent, of 

 the gross population ; then in Armagh, 31 ; softening down in Belfast, Tyrone, 

 Dublin city, and Down county, in none of which do its numbers fall below 20 per 

 cent. Presbyterianism reaches its maximum at Camckfergus, 59 ; descending by 

 Antrim, 53 ; Down, 45 ; Belfast, 36 ; and Londonderry, 35 ; but in twenty-two 

 counties, embracing nearly the whole of three provinces, it does not reach 1 per cent, 

 of the gToss population. 



In general the numbers representing Churchmen (or English Saxons) and Roman 

 Catholics (or Celts) are the complements of each other, the descending figures in 

 tbe one case nearly corresponding with the ascending ones in the other. But five 

 or six of the lowest Roman Catholic numbers are baauced, not by Churchmen, but 

 by Presbyterians, as given in the previous paragraph ; all the examples lying in 

 tbe three shires of Do\\'n, Antrim, and Loudondeny, where the Scottish element is 

 strongest. 



Since 1834 the Presbyterian element has diffused itself, though still greatly con- 

 centrated. In general it is represented at the new points in the south and west by 

 a preponderance of males ; while the instances in which Roman Catholic males ex- 

 ceed the females are remarkably few. Persons of the former class find new homes 

 by the demands of trade and agiicidture ; persons of the latter class serve to swell 

 tlie tide of emigration which flows westward, the males being usually the pioneers. 

 These are only a few of the inferences suggested by the figures already given to 

 tbe public as anticipatory of the general census. 



A Letter from Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of Hongl-ong, relating to the 

 Journey of Major Sarel, Capt. Blakiston, Dr. Barton, and another, who are 

 endeavouring to j^ass from China to the North of India. By Sir R. I. 

 Mtjuchison, D.C.L., F.E.S. 



These travellers ascended the Yang-tse-kiang to 800 miles .above Hang-kow, 

 found much coal with limestones and conglomerates in the clifl's fonning the banks 

 of that miglily stream, had travelled in their European dresses, and had encountered 

 no gTeat dilficulty until they were near the capit.al of the great province of Sze- 



